Wire motion for looms



W. W. ROBERTSON June 8, 1937.

IRE MOTION FOR LOOMS' Filed April 2. 1935 N RN Inventor Wilhaum w.Robertson Attorney Patented June 8, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT oFF eEWIRE MOTION FOR LOOMS Application April 2, 1936, Serial No. 72,360

10 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in wire motions for looms and itis the general object of the invention to provide a motion particularlyadaptable to wide looms.

In the weaving of tapestry and Wilton fabrics it is customary to employa series of pile wires which are introduced from one side of the loomand over which the loops of the pile yarn are formed. There is generallya set of wires, one wire being withdrawn from the front of the set to beinserted at a subsequent operation into the open shed under the raisedpile yarns and take its place as the last of the set. When the fabricbeing woven is wide the pressure exerted by the pile loops isconsiderable, placing considerable strain on the parts which remove thefront wire.

It has been customary on narrower looms to connect the wire carriage toa cable which is trained around a scroll rotated in opposite directionsto effect, first, movement of the carriage along its slide toward theadjacent selvage, and then a reverse motion away from the selvage towithdraw the wire. It has been proposed to use chains or the like tooperate wire motions of wide looms but such constructions are cumbersome.and expensive and it is an important object of my present invention toretain the type of wire motion used on narrower looms and provide anauxiliary source of power to initiate the wire extracting operation. Ifind that the greatest resistance occurs at the beginning of the wireWithdrawal and that by providing means to exert an additional force atthis time, the ordinary fabric cable will sufiice to finish the outwardmotion of the wire.

It is another object of my invention to provide rigid or metallic means,such as a cam driven hook, to have direct pulling relation with respectto the wire carrier during the first few inches of outward travel of thewire. The aforesaid scroll will start its operation at the beginning ofthe withdrawing stroke but the force which it exerts will besupplemented by an additional force transmitted through devices whichare stronger and subject to less stretch than the cable. As the wiremoves out of the shed the cable will draw the carriage away from theauxiliary extractor, and the control for the latter is such that whenthe cable has a reverse motion to insert a fresh wire into the shed,said extractor will be in its inmost position where it will notinterfere with the wire carriage.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, my invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein a convenient embodiment of myinvention is set forth,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of one endv of a loom having my improvedwire motion applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of certain structure shown in Fig. 1illustrating the mode of operation, and

Fig. 3 is a detailed top plan view taken in the direction of arrow 3,Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, the right hand loomside I0 is shown in Fig. 1,the loom proper with the harnesses and other weaving instrumentalitiesnot shown being located to the left of this loomside. Extending from theright of the latter is an end frame H supporting a rotatable drum l2journaled at I3 in the end frame. The drum has secured thereto a cableH! which extends around outer and inner guide sheaves l5 and I 6,respectively, and may be kept'tight by a third idle sheave I? mountedfor horizontal adjustment toward and from the drum, with bolding meansI8 as shown in Fig. 1 to retain the adjusted positions.

The end frame supports a wire guide bar 20 and there is also provided awire carriage 2| sliding along a carriage rail 22. The cable isconnected to the "carriage as illustrated in Fig. 3 and the carriage isprovided with a hook 23 to co-operate with the pile wires P.

The drum I2 is fast with a driving pinion 25 meshing with areciprocating rack 26 supported in a guide frame 21. A link 28 betweenthe rack and a rotating crank arm 29 transmits motion from the latter tothe drum. The crank arm is on a shaft 30 journaled in the end frame I Idriven in any approved manner.

In the operation of the matter thus far described reciprocation of therack 26 due to rotation of the shaft 30 will rock the drum l2 first inone direction and then in the other, sothat there is first a pull on thecarriage 2| tending to move the latter outwardly or toward the "sheaveIS on a wire withdrawing stroke, after which the drum reverses to movethe carriage toward the cloth. The wire carriage 20 will ordinarily movefrom the forward position shown in Fig. 3 rearwardly after the foremostpile wire has been extracted to permit insertion of the latter into theshed. It is not deemed necessary to show details of the pile wires orthe means for manipulating the rail 20, and the mechanism for drivingthe drum I2 of itself is not new, For

further details of the structure already described reference may be hadto the following patents: 130,961, W. Webster; 960,211, F. A. Whitmoreand 1,715,947, J. Petero.

5 In carrying my present invention into effect I provide means acting inconjunction with the drum l2 and cable I4 to exert on the carriage anadditional force at the beginning only of its outward motion whenattached to a pile wire by means of hook 23. To accomplish this result Iprovide a cam 40 which is secured to the shaft 30 in proper angularrelation with respect to the crank 29, preferably as shown in Fig. 2,and further provide a cam lever 4! which pivots about a fixed axis 42. Aroll 43 on lever 4| engages the cam 40 and the upper end of the lever isattached to a pull rod or link 44, as at 4 5. The left or inner end ofthe pull rod, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, is hooked as at 46 to liebehind,

or to the left of a pin 41 projecting forwardly from the carriage 2!. Aguide yoke 50 may be secured to the loom frame to support the inner endof the pull rod 44.

In operation and at the beginning of the wire '25 withdrawing operation,the arm 29 and link 28 will be substantially in alignment, as suggestedin Fig. 2, with the roll 43 starting to rise up the incline 55 of thecam 40. This rise is rather abrupt and gives a relatively quick outwardmove- 30 ment of the lever 4| from the full to the dotted line positionshown in Fig. 2, while the crank arm is moving from the full to thedotted line position in that figure. The parts are so proportioned, andthe relation of the crank arm 29 and cam are such, that the hook 46 ismoved to the right at a rate not essentially different from that of thecable. I find that there may be some slight variation in the rates ofthe hook and cable without damage to the latter due to the ability ofthe cable to stretch.

As the came 40 rotates in the direction of arrow a, Figs. 1 and 2, thehook and, therefore the pin 41 and carriage 2|, will move a space ofseveral inches sufiicient to overcome the initial 45 resistance tomotion on the part of the wire due to the binding of the pile yarns.After the hook has come to rest in the position shown in dotted lines inFig. 2 due to the fact that the roll 43 has reached the high part of therise or incline 55, the cable will be sufficiently strong to continueoutward motion of the carriage, and the latter, together with the pin41, will move away from the hook by a force derived from the rack andpinion which drives the drum l2. The cam has a gradual return surface 51which merges with a dwell 58 coming under the roll 43 some time prior tothe return of the carriage 2| from the outer to the inner position shownin Fig. 3. By this relation the hook 45 is always out of the 60 path oftravel of the pin 41 as derived from the cable.

A spring 60 may be interposed between the lever ll-and a fixed part ofthe loom to hold the roll against the cam, although this spring is not-6 essential, since the pin 41 can if desired be re lied upon by itsengagement with the hook 46 to return the lever from the dotted to thefull line position shown in Fig. 2 when the cable moves the carriage tothe inner or left hand position, at

'7 which time the dwell 58 will permit such motion of the lever.

" From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided thecomparatively simple auxiliary wire motion acting in conjunction withthe usual cable and drum, the auxiliary motion serving to overcome theinitial resistance to movement on the part of the wire, after which thecable can assume the full load and continue the outward motion of thecarriage along its guide rail. It will further be seen that the cam andlever which operate the hook are so designed that the latter does notinterfere with the return motion of the carriage 2| to the positionshown in Fig. 3 during the insertion of a previously extracted wire intothe shed under the pile yarns. It will also be seen that the cam is setto give its throw to the hook at a time when the crank arm 29 causescomparatively little motion on the part of the drum l2, therebypermitting the rates of travel on the part of the carriage induced bythe drum and cam to be substantially the same, and in this connectionthe inclined surface 55 can be designed to give the hook a crank motion,or one closely simulating the motion given to the carriage by the drum.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes andmodifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wishto be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1. In a wire motion for looms having a pile wire to be withdrawn, a pilewire carriage to be operatively related to the pile wire, a primaryactuator operatively connected to the carriage and exerting a force onthe latter throughout the wire withdrawing motion of said carriage, andan auxiliary actuator to be operatively related to and exert anadditional force on the carriage during the first part of the wirewithdrawing operation to assist the primary actuator.

2. In a wire motion for a loom having a pile wire to be withdrawn, 2.member to be operatively related to the pile wire for the purpose ofwithdrawing the latter, and two separate actuators for said member, oneof said actuators exerting operating force on the member throughout theentire travel of the latter, and the other actuator exerting anadditional force on said member during the first part only of the wirewithdrawing stroke of the member.

3. In a loom having a pile wire to be moved longitudinally, a wirecarriage to engage the pile wire, a primary actuator permanentlyconnected to the carriage to exert a force on the latter throughout theentire movement thereof when withdrawing the wire, and an auxiliaryactuator to exert an additional force on the carriage during the firstpart only of the wire withdrawing motion of the carriage.

4. In a pile fabric loom having a pile wire to be withdrawn, a carriageto be operatively related to the pile wire, a primary actuator for thecarriage including a flexible cable, an operating drum thereforpermanently connected to the carriage through the cable and exertingwithdrawing force on the carriage throughout the entire wire withdrawingmotion thereof, and an auxiliary actuator operating conjointly with thecable during the first part only of the wire withdrawing operation toexert an additional force on the carriage.

5. In a pile fabric loom operating with a pile wire to be withdrawn, acarriage to be operatively related to the pile wire, a pair of actuatorsfor the carriage, and driving means for the actuators effective to causeboth actuators to move at the beginning of the wire withdrawingoperation and to cause but one of said actuators to remain operativelyrelated to the wire throughout the remainder of the wire withdrawingoperation.

6. In a pile fabric loorn having a pile wire to be withdrawn, a pilewire carriage to be operatively related to the pile wire, a rotatabledrum, a flexible cable operatively and permanently connecting the drumand the carriage, a cam, a cam lever therefor, and a force transmitterinterposed between the lever and the carriage efiective to exert amovement on the carriage in a direction to withdraw the wire during thefirst part only of the withdrawing motion of the carriage, said drum andcable thereafter continuing motion of the carriage.

7. In a pile wire loom having a pile wire to be withdrawn and over whichpile yarns are looped, a carriage to be connected to the pile wire, aprimary actuator to be permanently connected to and move the carriagethroughout the withdrawing operation of the wire, and means detachablyconnected to the carriage and operative at the beginning only of thewithdrawing operation to overcome the initial resistance to motion ofthe wire due to friction of the pile yarns.

8. In a pile wire loom having a pile wire withdrawing motion which isresisted by the pile yarns of the loom, a primary actuator operativethroughout the wire withdrawing operation to exert a withdrawing forceon the wire, and an auxiliary actuator to overcome the initialresistance to motion on the part of the pile wire due to friction of thepile yarns.

9. In a pile fabric loom having a pile wire held under pile yarn loopswhich exert a relatively high resistance to the beginning of thewithdrawing motion of the wire and a less resistance after motion of thewire has been started, a primary actuator to overcome the lesserresistance and operative throughout the withdrawing operation to exert acontinuous force on the wire, and a secondary actuator exerting a forcein addition to the primary actuator for the purpose of overcoming saidrelatively large resistance opposing the beginning of the withdrawingmotion.

10. In a pile fabric loom having a pile wire to be withdrawn andoffering a relatively high resistance to the beginning of itswithdrawing motion and offering a lesser resistance to the continuanceof the withdrawing motion, two actuators both to be operatively relatedto the pile wire, means to cause one of the actuators to be operativelyrelated to the wire and capable of overcoming the lesser resistancethroughout the withdrawing motion of the latter, and means to cause theother actuator to add the force exerted thereby to the first actuatorduring the first part of the withdrawing motion of the wire to overcomesaid relatively high resistance.

WILLIAM W. ROBERTSON.

